Scottsdale Tour Wrap-Up Review – More than Sunshine and Golf

Predictably, whenever the temperatures approach frozen tundra zone in Chicago the evening TV ads for Scottsdale appear. We see Camelback Mountain, glimpses of desert flora and a happy couple relaxing as though at a spa.

Ask the average Chicagoan without family in the Southwest and they’ll probably think that Scottsdale is where baseball spring training happens and is also one of those places that golfer go to. Indeed, these are Scottsdale fortés.

Yet, there is more to Scottsdale that’s important to know if you find yourself going to Phoenix on business with a few extra days or perhaps looking for a vacation spot.

If you have gone to the Robie House by the University of Chicago and Frank Lloyd Wright’s home in Oak Park, and better yet Taliesin in Spring Green and Falling Waters too, you owe yourself a trip to Taliesin West to round out the picture.

The latter especially will give anyone who is concerned about global sustainability much to chew on.

Although just recently sojourning to Scottsdale obviously meant a welcomed escape from winter cabin fever, it strikes one who thinks of budget travel ideas to think about the area in summer. There are quite a few highlights of the Scottsdale and Phoenix area that would be just as good in the dog days of summer, if not better, when the crowds have thinned.

The Heard Museum gives you an excellent tour of Native American history in the Southwest in just 45 minutes. Its katsina doll collection and other treasures are a good warm-up for getting lost in the magnificent National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian.

I have a treasured memory of walking the grounds of the Desert Botanical Garden near sunset in the summer and feeling like it was my personal garden expanse since nobody else seemed to be in the gardens at the time.

Locals might be trained to stay indoors in summer giving you more elbow room and a few days of that good dry desert heat.

While Chicagoans have little reason to travel to sate foodie instincts it’s good to know that at every price point you will find ample options in Scottsdale. It boasts more restaurants per capita than Manhattan. It was quite a surprise to find that one of the better restaurants, Café ZuZu, was in a hotel, as most travelers know that is rarely the case. Having sampled two of Chef Carter’s restaurants – The Mission and The House Brasserie—it’s easy to imagine that a priority for a return trip will be to sample his third, or fourth if he spawns yet another.

Chicagoans also have little reason to venture beyond River North for art buys but not so if you have a hankering for Native American or Western Art. This is where Scottsdale’s art scene and festive artwalk really shines.